The Rogue Sage
by scotty90
Summary: Starting just before the Hidan/Kakuzu arc, Naruto encounters a strange new threat to Konoha - a dangerous and volatile missing-nin who can use Sage jutsu. 2 OC characters and Naruto gains Sage Mode faster this time.
1. Chapter 1  Introductions

Ok, this is my first story. It's actually probably the first thing I've ever written that's lasted longer than a few pages before I get side tracked or just procrastinate till I lose interest. I've actually had the idea for this story for a while, but never thought to do much about it until recent jet-lag started keeping me up all night with little better to do… Anyway, reviews and critique would be greatly appreciated. But please bear in mind this is my first time writing something like this so go easy. The first chapter is mostly as the title suggests - an introductory chapter to the situation and to my OC so it might be a bit slow at first but I'll make up for it in the next chapter.

Just added a new chapter and thought I'd reread the first two. I'm actually really unhappy with the first part of this chapter. But I'm also too lazy to fix it atm, so please bear through it. Trust me it gets better…

**The Rogue Sage**

Naruto grinned to himself, watching the backs of Yamato and Kakashi-sensei as they walked away, the silver haired ninja's words echoing in his head.

'_You're the only shinobi in the world who can surpass the Fourth. I believe in you.'_

It had taken a few seconds for Kakashi-sensei's words to make sink in – by combining his newly learned wind-natured chakra with his rasengan; he would be able to complete the Yondaime Hokage's jutsu and a create a technique more badass than the rasengan. With that, Orochimaru and those Akastuki bastards wouldn't stand a chance.

It had been over a week since the new Team 7 had returned from their ill-fated mission to meet with Sasori's apparent informant at the Bridge of Heaven and Earth. Although their mission had taken an unexpected turn when they were given the opportunity to reunite with their old teammate; Sasuke was just as unresponsive to their attempts to reason with him as ever. What's more, he had absolutely mopped the floor with the weakened foursome. The only thing that had saved them was the arrival of the Snake Sannin and his henchman Kabuto, who called Sasuke away before he could do any real damage.

The memory of the encounter still left a bitter feeling in the pit of Naruto's chest. He still couldn't reach his old friend. Sasuke's hatred and lust for vengeance had caused him to turn away from those closest to him and embrace a road of solitude.

He gritted with teeth with renewed determination. This was a chance to get stronger. He would bring his old friend back to Konoha with his awesome new technique. He crossed his fingers into the seal ready to activate his signature jutsu. With his new clone training technique, it wouldn't be long before he would catch up to Sasuke…

A flicker ahead of him grabbed his attention, causing him to pause. A puff of smoke had appeared in front of Kakashi and Yamato, revealing a masked ANBU on one knee with a single fist pressed against the floor. A message was being relayed.

'_It's not often sensei receives messages so urgently' _Naruto thought to himself, '_it must be important.'_ He strained his ears as he tried to make something out from the hushed voices of the three. If nothing else, he was curious.

From what he could grasp from the serious tones all three ninja were using, it did seem like something was going on. He leaned forward and titled his head slightly trying to make something out without giving himself away.

'…initial reports…'

'…chances of survival…'

'…blood loss…'

Naruto maintained his demeanour despite the fact that his pulse had quickened. This sounded important. Had there been an attack somewhere? Was someone killed? If only he could hear what they wer-

Naruto's heart jumped in his chest. He had managed to make out a word from the conversation. A word that turned the blood in his veins to ice.

'...Jiraiya-sama…'

'_Jiraiya-sensei?'_ A sudden gust of wind drowned out the murmurs from the ninja ahead of him. He stood stuck in his kage bunshin stance with his fingers still crossed in front of him '_Could something have happened to Ero-sennin?'_

Standing numbly in shock, Naruto looked up to see that Kakashi-sensei had now turned around from his conversation as was looking directly at him.

'_No no…this is stupid. Nothing could have happened to Ero-sennin' _he thought, '_it's got to be something else. I'm just over-reacting.' _There could be any number of reasons why Jiraiya-sensei would be involved in whatever was going on. But that still didn't make him feel any less anxious about what he had overheard.

He looked across the training field where he Yamato and Kakashi had spent the last few days developing Naruto's elemental control, making direct eye contact with his masked sensei who was looking at him with his single visible eye. His usual laid back expression gave no indication to what had happened.

The copy ninja regarded him for a moment before turning back to ANBU. He said several more words with the masked ninja who nodded before vanishing in another puff of smoke. With that, Kakashi turned back to him,

'Naruto.' He called, his usual lazy voice taking on its slightly more serious tone reserved for when he was giving orders, 'that's enough training for today. You're wanted at the Hokage's office.'

Naruto dropped his arms to his side, keeping his face neutral as he walked over to the two shinobi. The Hokage wanted to see him? That didn't really confirm or deny his fears either way. From what he could make out from the ANBU's report, there had been some kind of attack. In a situation like that it would make sense for Konoha's Jinchuriki to be present and accounted for, especially with Akastuki after him and all. Still, that was assuming there_ was_ an attack, and the ANBU hadn't been delivering a death report, which would require his presence so he could be told the news…

'_No.' _He mentally scolded himself. '_You can't go panicking yet when you don't know anything.'_ Still, he couldn't shake the rotten feeling in his gut.

'What's happened Kakashi-sensei?' He asked as he reached the pair.

'Come on,' Kakashi replied, nodding his head in the direction of the village, ignoring the blond ninja's question outright, 'let's go.'

With that he turned and darted into the trees headed back towards the village, while Yamato, who –like his fellow former ANBU kept his race unreadable – remained standing where he was for a second as he looked at the blond ninja.

'Let's go, Naruto' he said, and turned to follow the Kakashi through the forest.

For a second Naruto stood there in the field, the sound of the waterfall behind serving to break the silence. _'It's cool,'_ he sighed. He hadn't really expected an answer from his team leader. _'Keep calm.'_

With that he vanished into the branches of the surrounding trees after his sensei and was gone.

XXXXX

While the journey back to the village had taken less than 10 minutes, it had seemed a lot longer to Naruto. He couldn't stop himself from thinking about Ero-sennin.

He didn't think he would be able to cope with news that his perverted sensei had been killed. He had managed to come a long way from his past life as the outcast Kyuubi host of the village, and he had made many friends since that night Iruka-sensei revealed that there was at least one person who could understand him. But his bond with Ero-sennin was one that we held especially precious. After the defection of Sasuke, who Naruto held as a brother; the loss of Jiraiya-sensei, who Naruto felt was like a father to him, would be more than he could bear.

Naruto blinked back the rise of emotions welling inside him as he walked in silence with Kakashi and Yamato. Once again he breathed deep to steel his nerves. There was no use in getting worked up just yet.

XXXXX

Tsunade looked up from her desk as the door to her office swung open and Kakashi entered, trailing Yamato and an usually shaken looking Naruto. The young ninja looked around the room, noticing the presence of Sakura and Sai, as well as the ever present Shizune and TonTon as he walked into the room. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the bright red messenger toad on her desk. His eyes widened in surprise.

She had never seen the boy so nervous, used to seeing the hyperactive, loud mouthed ninja everyone expected of Naruto. The sight of it left her slightly unsettled. Still, she could hardly blame the poor boy. What was he to think after being summoned to the Hokage's office on such short notice to find his team members as well as one of Mount Myoboku's toads waiting for him when he arrived?

Tsunade herself was still reeling from the news she had just received, although he hid it from the rest of the room behind an expressionless face she had perfected though years of hardship. She cleared her throat softly before speaking up.

'Naruto. We've just received a report' she said, addressing the blond ninja in the centre of the room.

XXXXX

'What's going on Granny?' Naruto replied, keeping his voice steady despite his nerves. He stood motionless at her desk, clenching his fists as he braced himself for the news. _Oh shit, something terrible has happened. Could Jiraiya-sensei really be –_

'We have just received word that Mount Myoboku has been attacked' came the sound of Hokage's voice as she eyed him from across her desk.

'Huh?' Naruto said, dumbfounded.

'_Does that mean Ero-sensei is ok?'_ That had not been the news he was expecting. His sense of dread had suddenly faded slightly, although not altogether. If Jiraiya-sensei was dead, then that would have been the first thing they would have told him. However, Naruto had no idea where the perverted old Sannin had been for the past few weeks – he still didn't know if the old man was safe. For that matter, why the hell were his team here waiting for him? Why did they look so worried?

Naruto's turbulent train of thought was bluntly interrupted by the large puff of smoke and banging noise that filled the room. He instinctively took a step, raising his arm over his face. Out the corner of his eye he saw Kakashi and Yamato duck into defensive stances, kunai already in their hands.

'_Such a loud entrance,' _he thought, chiding himself for being so out of it that he had reacted so sloppily, _'too big to be a body flicker. It's more like a summoning jutsu, or –'_

_Or a reverse summoning._

Lowering his arm so he could get a clearer look ahead of him as the smoke began to dissipate throughout the room. It was still too thick to see anything clearly. But he felt his body stiffen as he recognised the massive mane of white hair in front of him.

XXXXX

'Goddammit Jiraiya!' Tsunade shouted, standing up from her desk waving the smoke away from her face angrily. 'Who the hell drops into the Hokage's Office so abruptly in the middle of a crisis?!'

She furiously regarded her fellow Sannin as she felt the rush of chakra drain from her arms and legs and the adrenaline in her blood settle down. The fool was lucky he hadn't been killed by one of them by appearing so suddenly. She could see that the two former ANBU on her right already had their weapons drawn, as did Shizune and the young ROOT member on her left. The broad shouldered frame of her old teammate blocked the rest of the room from view.

Looking at him, Tsunade saw none of the Toad Sage's usual oafish persona. His usual carefree face now had the hardened look she knew so well from their many battles together. The look meant he was serious, and when Jiraiya was serious it was a pretty clear indicator that things were not going well.

'I came as soon as I got the news from my toad messenger Tsunade,' he said, not taking his eyes from hers, ignoring the rest of the room as they silently returned their weapons to their pouches and sheaths. From what Tsunade could see, they had opted to keep quiet as the two Sannin talked, their grim faces showing that they realised the gravity of the situation. 'I didn't have time to take a longer way,' he continued, 'if you got the same message I did, then you know who's likely to have done thi-'

The Toad Hermit didn't get the chance to finish his sentence before he forcefully lurched forward and toppled to the foot of her desk with a startling crash. Tsunade caught the glimpse an orange blur driving into his back as he went down with a loud yelp.

'Naruto!' Sakura cried as everyone in the room jumped in surprise.

'What the-'Jiraiya began, trying to twist around on the floor to look behind him.

'Stupid old pervert…' came Naruto's muffled voice as he held tightly onto the Sage's back. Standing up to see over the edge of her desk, Tsunade realised what the young boy must have been thinking when he was called to her office. She felt a pang of guilt for not noticing the reason for the boy's apprehension when he had entered the room. She had thought he was acting more reserved than usual, but had chalked it up to the dire situation.

'Hey! What're you so worked up about kid? I'm fine.' Jiraiya said, trying to get up with the young ninja still firmly latched onto his back. His voice had taken on a softer edge when he realised his young apprentice had been so worried about him. He managed to hoist himself on one knee as Naruto relaxed his hold on his sensei.

Jiraiya stood up and turned around to face Naruto, who had also gotten to his feet and had wiped his eyes with his jacket sleeve. The boy now stood facing away from Tsunade, his gaze fixed steadily on the floor in front of him.

'Hey, no need to get so worried baka,' Jiraiya said dropping down on one knee to look at his student. Tsunade could see that the face of her old teammate had softened considerably. Naruto's sudden burst of emotion had clearly surprised him just as much as it did the rest of the room, who were now recovering from the second big shock in so many seconds. Kakashi, Yamato and Shizune all let out collective sighs to ease their fried nerves while Sakura was looking at her teammate, her face clearly concerned as her hands clasped in front of her. Sai on the other hand regarded the two in the centre of the room curiously; his head tilted to side slightly like that of a curious animal.

'Heh, who was worried,' Naruto said quietly, his gaze not moving from the floor, 'I just-'

'You just forgot your sensei was the great Jiraiya!' The old Hermit grinned widely as his voice rose. 'Like I'm ever going to bite the dust before a punk brat like you!'

'Ehhh?' Naruto said, looking up at his sensei's boast, his own voice taking on its usual argumentative tone Tsunade often heard when the boy got into one of his frequent boasting matches, 'As if! You're like 70 years older than I am! Even if you don't get your ass kicked, old age is going to put you down long before I even hit my prime!'

'What was that?! 70! Just how old do you think I am you little punk?!'

'At least 70! I'm surprised you're not already walking around with a cane!'

'A cane?! Well this old man still has enough fight in him to kick your ass across Konoha!'

'Oh yeah?! Just try it Ero-sennin, with my new wind jutsu I'll show you just how strong I've gotten!'

'Oh yeah?! Well-'

The two were now standing in the middle of the room screaming into each other's faces and making wild gestures and poses with their arms. If she didn't put a stop to it soon…

'ENOUGH!' Tsunade's booming voice echoed across the room as she slammed her fist into the table, causing the entire room to jump back from her in fright, TonTon included. 'DO I NEED TO REMIND BOTH YOU IDIOTS THAT WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A CRISIS?! AN ALLY HAS BEEN ATTACKED AND YOU TWO ACT LIKE A PAIR OF CHILDREN!' She brought her fist angrily down again on the table, causing in to shatter in half sending splinters flying across the room and a cloud of dust to rise into the air.

'Sorry Granny-chan,' said Naruto now cowering in front of her desk meekly as Jiraiya's face began to harden once again. She knew that his outburst had mainly been for Naruto's benefit so she couldn't be too mad at him. But she also knew just how easily her fellow Sannin got carried away with his own bravado…

She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath whilst the room collectively waited for her response. In the corner of her vision she saw the red frog that had given her the attack report climb from the wreckage before nonchalantly turning to face her along with the assembled ninja. 'Fine,' she said, letting herself relax visibly before turning towards the room, 'I don't need to tell you about the seriousness of this attack.'

'Um, wait. So what's going on again?' Naruto asked sheepishly.

Tsunade sighed heavily before sitting down behind her now ruined desk. She motioned to her former teammate, 'Jiraiya, you probably know the situation better than I do.'

Jiraiya nodded at her before turning back to Naruto, his face once again serious as he briefed his young student.

'About 2 hours ago, it was discovered that sometime last night an unknown party had infiltrated Mount Myoboku and laid siege to the home of the Great Toad Sage.'

'Great Toad Sage?' Naruto asked.

'The leader of Mount Myoboku and the toads who live there,' Jiraiya continued, 'we don't know exactly what happened there. But it seems that the Great Toad Sage has been killed.'

The rest of the room stared on solemnly, having been briefed on the situation beforehand. Naruto, meanwhile, scratched the back of his head thoughtfully.

'So the head honcho of the toads has been killed? Damn, that's not good.'

'I don't think you realise the importance of what I'm telling you Naruto,' Jiraiya continued, 'the Great Toad Sage was watched over constantly by 2 protectors, the Two Great Sage Toads.'

'The Two Great Sage Toads,' Naruto echoed, sounding confused.

'Fukasaku and Shima. They were the sages who trained me in Sage jutsu, which is why I'm known as the Toad Sage,' Jiraiya pressed on, ignoring Naruto's tone, 'Sage mode is the strongest of all my abilities. The Two of them were probably more powerful than I am.'

'Whoa…' Naruto sighed, staring to grasp the situation, 'These guys must have been pretty tough then.'

'Yes they were,' Jiraiya said, looking his student dead in the eye, 'and they were killed along with the Great Toad Sage.'

Naruto stared blankly at his sensei in total shock. 'They're both dead?'

'Yes Naruto,' Jiraiya replied, standing straighter to address Tsunade and the rest of the room, 'now the main problem is this – as I stated before, we have a pretty clear idea who is responsible for this. There is only one person who had both the knowledge of Mount Myoboku and the power needed to accomplish this attack.'

'Who is that Jiraiya-sama?' Kakashi asked from the corner he was standing in.

'Another former student of the Two Great Sage Toads before he was excommunicated on account of his tendency to lose control of himself to bloodlust,' Jiraiya said. His face was now deadly serious. 'We are now dealing with a rouge-nin who has a detailed knowledge of Konoha's inner workings and worst of all, can use Sage jutsu.' His gaze met Tsunade's across the room, whose face had taken on the same ominous look as his. 'Shin Kazeshini, the Rogue Sage.'

XXXXX

The band of missing-nin stood huddled around the fire, sharing dirty anecdotes and fighting over the terrible tasting food that lay cluttered around the cavern they were temporarily using as a shelter. Only their leader kept himself apart from the group, preferring to sit alone away from the rest of them while they laughed and jeered amongst themselves.

They had a lot to celebrate today. Not only had their raid on the nearby village gone off without a hitch. But they had also found out that a bounty had recently been placed on their heads.

'Oh yeah! 2 million ryo baby!' shouted one of the larger members. He stood up by the fire and raised both his fist above his head as he looked around at his fellow ninja. His arms and bare back were covered in small cars, as was the left side of his face. 'Now our crew's really got some respect!'

'But it's mostly due to the boss though,' said another member, his voice carrying around the cavern despite the cheers of agreement from the rest of the group. He was smaller than the other ninja, sporting saggy black hair and wearing a tattered vest as he sat beside the fire disassembling an odd circular shield like contraption as he cleaned parts from it. 'Boss's bounty alone is 5 million ryo.'

The cheering among the group died down slightly as the 15 or so members all stole glances at the prone figure of their leader. All that could be seen in the sunlight that reached into the cavern was the dark silhouette of the ninja as he sat hunched over in the darkness, either not hearing or not caring about the group's conversation.

'Yeah yeah, no one's doubting that the boss is the toughest out of us,' chimed in another member to a murmur of agreement among the group, 'but at least now people can see that we're not a group that can be messed with lightly.'

Again there was a murmur of approval from the assorted congregation. It had been six months since the band of ninja had defected from Iwagakure, rejecting the life of unquestioning obedience their village demanded in favour of a life as a band of missing-nin. With their ninja training, they could easily muscle aside any other gangs that tried to mess with them, and the villages they plundered couldn't put up a defence against them that could give the group any trouble.

It had been their leader who had incited them to abandon their lives as Iwa ninja. Easily the strongest out of the group, he had once been considered a promising jounin in Iwagakure. But for whatever reason he had grown sick of the Tsuchikage's rule and opted to set out a new life for himself and the small band of ninja that had chosen to follow him.

'Hah! I bet those idiots back in Iwagakure are sick with envy now!' one of the group called out.

'Yeah, they're back there stuck under the thumb of that old dwarf bastard while we get to kick it out here with the good life!'

And with that the conversation of the ninja returned to swapping tales of their best fights and arguments over who should receive what share of their spoils.

'Boss-sama!' a young ninja cried as he ran into the cave. He had been placed in a lookout position at the entrance of the cavern. 'Boss-sama there's someone at the entrance!'

'What!' the scarred ninja shouted angrily as he turned towards the approaching scout. Their leader continued to sit in silence, giving no indication he had heard the young boys report. 'How did he get here?!'

The scout stopped in front of the group as the various members quickly dispersed from around the fire and readied themselves for combat as their training as ninja kicked in. He smiled apologetically as he nervously explained himself 'Well, the thing is I kinda fell asleep for a second, and when I woke up he was just there.'

'YOU WHAT?!' the older ninja roared as he grabbed the boy by his jacket. One of his fists clutched a handful of cloth while his other cocked back behind his head ready to strike. All around them ninja rushed back and forth as weapons were collected and positions were being taken. Their leader still hadn't moved from his spot, though he had now looked up. The light from the fire illuminated his calm, expressionless face and dark eyes under his slicked back brown hair as he watched the scout's report to his furious superior.

'Wait, wait!' the young scout frantically added, seeing murder in his scarred companion's eyes , 'He's not doing anything though. He's just sitting there!'

'He's what?!'

'That right! He's not doing anything! He's just sitting at the entrance watching the cave!'

XXXXX

Under his wide straw hat, the intruder smiled to himself as the sounds of turmoil coming from the mouth of the cavern indicated that he had finally been discovered.

It had taken quite a while for the renegade band of ninja to notice he was there. Still, he wasn't about to complain, the now setting sun shone warmly over him as he sat cross legged on the boulder in front of the cave mouth. He had been given a great opportunity to relax for a bit before collecting his bounty.

The warm glow of the sun's rays had provided a comfortable spot for him to sit and enjoy himself as he sat on his rock. His dusty cloak spread out around him, covering his entire body below his shoulders and masking his light brown haori. The loosely fitting cloth was interlaid with intricate red and golden swirls and patterns along the arms and hem. Despite the growing killing intent emanating from the cave, his face showed no hint of concern as he took a drag out of the long, thin pipe that sat in his palm. Decorative like the rest of his attire, the carved pipe extended into a small ornate golden bowl in his hand that glowed red as he drew on the dried crushed leaves inside. His cheek and eyebrow were marked with the dark violet of recently received bruising, indicating a recent struggle. His dark brown eyes were fixed on the floor, looking at nothing in particular as he contently listened to the chaos in the cavern ahead of him and breathed out a slow stream of smoke.

'_From the sound of it, this shouldn't be much trouble,'_ he thought to himself, vaguely aware of the sound of footsteps steadily approaching him. _'Good thing too, I'm exhausted.'_

He lifted his head slightly to see a bare chested and heavily scarred ninja approaching him, flanked by 4 equally aggressive looking nin all eying him warily. He kept the smile on his face as the man approached him.

'Hey!' he said, stopping less than a metre from where the man was sitting and glaring angrily at him, 'Waddyu think you're doing here? Do you have any idea who's base you're sitting outside of?'

Instead of a response, the stranger simply sighed, exhaling a last cloud of smoke before turning his pipe over and tapping it out on the rock we was perched on. He made no acknowledgment of the man in front of him, whose eyes had started to bulge slightly.

'Ignore me will you you bastard? Well how about we cut you up right here as a lesson in-?'

'Azuma Koji,' the stranger interrupted, his expression covered under his straw hat, 'and his gang. Defected from Iwagakure a little over six months ago. Have since taken on a life as petty bandits. Currently worth a combined bounty of 7 million ryo.'

He looked up, locking eyes with the stunned ninja, 'I'm here to collect on the bounty that's been placed on you and your leader. I'm kind of in a hurry so if you want to surrender now that's fine. Just tie yourself up and take a seat over there.' He motioned with his thumb behind himself, not removing his gaze. 'Otherwise, you'll all die here.'

The stunned silence that followed was only broken by the slow rustling of the wind as it swept through the rocky range the cave was situated in. The 5 ninja surrounding the intruder stood shocked at the stranger's declaration. He was easily within striking distance. He must have known that he didn't have a chance in hell of taking such a fortified position. From the look of his tattered cloak and sakkat he resembled a wandering hermit. But wandering hermits didn't make threats like that. He was either a madman or a foolhardy idiot…

The scarred shinobi in front of him gritted his teeth under what must have been this idiot's idea of a joke, 'Bastard…'.

He reached for the kunai in his trouser pouch. If this jackass wanted to act tough then he could just have to carve that cockiness out of him. Grasping the metal handle firmly in his hand, he brought it back around in front of him, carving a deadly arc towards the jackass's throat. Teach him to act so tough-

Before the blade was even halfway towards its mark, the attacking ninja suddenly shot backwards into the cave. The 4 other ninja stood bewildered with their weapons half drawn. They hadn't even seen the intruder move.

Perched on the rock he has been sitting on, the man now had one foot extended out flat in front of him. His movements had been too fast to see, but it seemed to the stunned ninja he had kicked the missing nin back into the darkness of the cave, with the sickening crunch echoing from within indicating a messy landing for their superior.

The stranger lazily pushed himself up and stepped off the rock as the ninja surrounding him drew their weapons and adopted defensive stances around him.

'I guess that's a no then.' He said, his calm voice failing to mask his eagerness as he landed easily and drew himself to full height.

'Get the bastard!'

The 2 closest ninja rushed right at him, kunai held cautiously in front of them as they charged. The other 2 were wary enough of the stranger's speed to keep their distance and used the second of distraction their allies gave to jump back with their hands quickly forming seals in front of them.

The first ninja to reach the intruder lashed out with a sharp stab with his kunai, only finding empty air where his target had been a second ago as his attack was casually sidestepped. The intruder stepped around the attack to place his attacker between him and the second approaching ninja, still keeping close to the pitifully slow missing nin. He smirked to himself as he dropped low and stepped forward inside the man's guard, driving his elbow into his chest at a downwards angle with an audible cracking sound that shot the man into the ground. Dust rose around him from the force of the impact. His sternum had been shattered, sending bone fragments into his heart and killing him instantly.

The second attacker, momentarily unbalanced by his ally's position between him and his target barely had time to register his companion slam into the ground before catching a blur of brown and gold as the intruder's fist shot directly into his throat, shattering the cartilage and bone as he dropped to the floor.

'_Shit, he's fast!'_ thought the other ninja, still yet to land from his leap backwards as he finally completing his hand seals as his allies broken bodies slumped before him. He noticed with horror that the second ninja was still on his knees clutching his throat. His eyes bulged as he coughed up chunks of red pulp, before rolling back in his head as he fell forward into the dirt beside the first.

'Wind release: Pinning Bullet!' he cried, sucking in a lungful of air as he skidded across the ground. To his side he heard his companion call out. 'Fire release: Small Fireball Technique!'

The ground ahead of them was quickly enveloped in a flurry of missiles as balls of fire and rushing pockets of air flew out from the mouths of the pair. There was a reason they had been sent out as the first strike force. In the confines of the cavern the duo's explosive team tactics ran the risk of either hitting a teammate or causing a cave in. Meanwhile, out in the open they could afford to use their wide spreading attack to overpower any attackers through sheer speed and rate of fire.

The only problem was that this attacker simply refused to take a hit from one of their missiles. He dashed forward, closing the distance between himself and them at an alarming rate as he ducked and dived through their attacks. But that was impossible, the sheer volume of missiles in the air made any hope of dodging their attack futile. Nevertheless, this strange figure seemed to be doing just that. All that the ninja could make out was his wide brimmed straw hat and tattered cloak fluttering around him as he circled towards the pair with impossible speed.

_Wait! He's moving to close to-_

Too late the ninja realised the intruder's tactic as he looped round to his companion with a burst of speed. Once again placing a human shield between him and the incoming attack.

_It's too late! I can't stop in time!_

In his strain to keep a bead on his target, he had failed to notice how close the man had gotten to his ally. _'Shit!'_ he cursed to himself as he shot out a final blast of air as his partner turned in a vain effort to engage the rapidly approaching cloaked figure in taijutsu. The blast struck his ally with a glancing blow on the shoulder, sending him lurching forward with a sharp cry of pain.

He was quickly halted by the attacker now standing directly in front of him, who had grabbed the struck shoulder as the ninja fell forwards. The man barely had time to look up before the stranger reached up under his slowly rising chin, grabbing the underside of his head and twisting it brutally to the side with a sharp snap.

_Goddammit! Who is this asshole?!_

In the space of several seconds the intruder had killed 3 of their group. He was obviously no simple wanderer. _'If I'm gonna have any chance of getting him I need to retreat into the cave,'_ the ninja decided. He channelled his chakra into his legs to prepare to make a dash into cavern where he could be better supported by the rest of his fellow nin.

He looked over to see the tattered body of his former comrade, still held aloft in front of the attacker by one arm whose grip preventing him from dropping to the floor.

_Wait, what's he-_

Before he had any chance to move, his companion's body was shot towards him with blinding speed, propelled outwards by the assailant's kick. Despite the chakra surging through his legs, he couldn't get out of the way in time. His former partner's body hit him with a dull thud, sending them both backwards into the rock face behind him.

'_Son of a bitch,'_ the ninja thought as his body collided with the hard rock. He was able to hear several of his bones breaking, pain lancing through his body before the back of his head smashed against the rock and blackness consumed his vision. '_That was a dirty move…'_

Shin Kazeshini watched the last two bodies in his welcome party flop to the floor as the last thug collapsed beside the ninja he had used as a human missile. From within the cavern, the sound of stamping feet and barked orders could still be heard as the ninja within realised they were under a far more serious attack than they had previously thought. He glanced carelessly around at the four corpses around the cave. The small clearing in front of the entrance was now littered with small craters and scorch marks from the last two thugs' attack. Their combined attack had actually been pretty respectable. The average ninja would have been sore pressed to deal with their overwhelming attacks. Still, a 2 million ryo bounty wasn't earned for nothing.

Shin smiled to himself. His pulse had barely even quickened and his muscles were still as relaxed as when we had been sat on his rock not 15 seconds earlier. He brushed some dirt from his cloak absently before turning to walk nonchalantly into the cavern, his head still bowed under his straw hat.

'_No,'_ he thought cheerfully to himself as he stepped into the darkness. _'Not much trouble at all…'_


	2. Chapter 2  Toads and Bounties

As the thug claiming to be a missing-nin slumped lifelessly to the ground at Shin's feet, he began to wonder when things were going to start livening up.

Since he had entered the cavern housing the band of ex- Iwa ninja he had gone through five of them in the space of a couple of minutes. The worst part about the whole thing was that these amateurs had presented so little a threat that he was steadily working his way through them using little more than his enhanced speed and strength. Even the most skilled among them only caused him to have to resort to basic taijutsu techniques. He hadn't even had to use any weapons so far, it wasn't even fair.

Not that the money for the bounty on these clowns wouldn't mean that his little detour hadn't been completely in vain. But it wasn't like he was lacking in funds at the moment, and money was by no means the reason why he had decided to take up hunting down missing-nin for the bounties on their heads as a way of making money. It was the collecting of said heads that Shin really enjoyed.

However, as he steadily worked his way through the various winding tunnels that lead deeper into the cave, avoiding traps and killing C-rank missing ninja at best, his heart continued to beat at a steady rate. This indicated two things. First of all, his attackers had put up so little fight that he couldn't even call them a warm-up. Secondly – and far more importantly - Shin Kazeshini was _**bored**_.

His footsteps echoed around him as he stepped over the uneven rocky ground. Periodically placed lamps meant that he was never unable to see where he was going. As he entered a large clearing he caught the flash of metal somewhere up to his right. He ducked instinctively as three kunai sailed harmlessly overhead. Turning to face his would be attacker, he smiled good-naturedly.

'You know, I'm starting to get embarrassed for you guys,' he said, looking at the missing-nin who stood on an elevated batch of worn rock. The ninja's face contorted in what appeared to be a mixture of rage and fear. 'Bastard! Try and say that once we use your corpse as a target dummy!' He sent two more kunai Shin's way, though his target simply leapt aside as the blades reached him as he darted over the rocks towards the ninja.

'Heh,' Shin said, though his voice contained no trace of humour. 'Tough words like that need the actual strength to back them.'

He reached the base of the rock the ninja had positioned himself on and began to rush up it. 'And all I'm seeing from you guys so far is a bunch of pussies who wouldn't even give a bunch of genin much trouble.'

As he moved up the rocks, Shin's eyes lit up with anticipation for the kill. In his haste, he almost didn't register the faint pulse of chakra around his feet.

'Hah!' the voice of a second ninja somewhere in the darkness behind him shouted. The ground beneath his feet erupted in a deafening bang as the hidden explosive tags were remotely activated. Luckily, he had noticed the chakra signature in time and had launched himself free of the blast. He sailed through the air away from the raised slope before landing back on the uneven ground.

'Whew! Those things are loud in such small spaces!' He said, turning to face the second ninja as he came out a shallow alcove with a short katana in his hands. The first ninja had used the distraction to leap to a second cluster of rocks, still keeping himself in an elevated position as well as keeping his distance.

'Now, although that wasn't that bad a move,' he continued as the two ninja readied themselves for a second attack, 'I'm getting really annoyed by the lack of a decent ninja among you guys. So I'm just gonna hurry this whole thing along…'

He shot his hands out in front of him, coming together into the snake seal.

'Earth release: Hidden Execution Stones!' he called out with a voice laced with anticipation.

The eyes of the two ninja widened with shock as the ground around their feet suddenly ruptured as the earth shot out several sharp spears of rock. Each spear rose from an opposing side of the ground, racing towards chest level. The ninja up on the raised platform barely managed to jump free in time, whilst his trap-setting companion had not been so fortunate. The ninja gave out a quick yelp of pain before the rising triangle shaped spears pinned him in place from four different sides with each tip protruding out the top of his chest area before his body went slack.

Meanwhile, Shin looked carelessly up at the first ninja who was still in mid-leap as he flew towards another elevated rock formation. He quickly placed two fingers into the wide haori sleeve of his right arm before whipping them out towards his target, sending two shruiken racing into the chest of the ninja who landed on the cave floor with a lifeless thud.

'This is turning out to be waste of time,' Shin said to no one in particular as he ducked his head and continued on through the tunnels.

XXXXX

Unknown to Shin, many miles away his sentiment was being echoed by a certain disgruntled orange clad ninja standing amidst the rubble of the former Great Toad Sage's temple home.

A few feet ahead of him, Jiraiya was crouched on the floor, examining something Naruto couldn't see.

'You might be right Naruto,' he said as his hands moved over the stone floor, 'but right now the ANBU have no leads as to where Shin could be. And this is the only place we have to start from whilst the others try and figure something out.' He stood up, apparently finished with what he was doing, and looked around at the rubble surrounding the pair.

He still found it hard to believe that his old friend could have been the one to kill their former teacher. But the location of Mount Myoboku was a closely guarded secret in Konoha, making any chance of an outsider learning where it was extremely unlikely. Shin had been the only non-Konoha ninja to be entrusted with the knowledge, and now Jiraiya understood just how great a mistake that had been. Besides, Shin hadn't exactly left his fellow sages on good terms.

On top of all that, the battlefield that had once been an ancient toad temple was strewn with evidence of the Prodigal Sage's more…enthusiastic…style of fighting. It had been a long time since Jiraiya had fought the man, but he could still recognise the destruction his more vicious techniques left.

The Toad Sage scowled as he looked around him. It was a look that sharply contrasted his typical easy manner. He had never thought it would all end up like this…

'Ero-sensei?' Naruto called out questioningly. 'Any luck finding something? This place is starting to bum me out.'

This was Naruto's first time in Mount Myoboku and normally he would have found the exotic landscape with its massive vegetation and colourful sky somewhat exciting. But the air was filled with a solemn atmosphere as the toads of the mountain mourned their loss. Naruto and Jiraiya were the only ones in Konoha that had direct access to Myoboku through their summoning contracts; so they were the only ones who were able to investigate at such short notice. Naruto was grateful that Jiraiya had arrived in Tsunade's office when he did, or the young Jinchuriki would have been sent alone, and he didn't like the thought of having to scour a still warm battle site for clues by himself.

Gamakichi and Gamatastu had met them when they arrived. The two brothers had shown none of their usual cheeriness as they solemnly led Naruto and Jiraiya to the temple ruins before leaving them alone as they left to mourn with their brethren.

It occurred to Naruto that he had yet to see Jiraiya show any kind of emotion about the situation. Apparently even Gamabunta was off getting drunk alone somewhere. But his white haired sensei seemed to just grimly go about his search, occasionally scowling to himself. After a few seconds he shook his head and indicated to Naruto their search was over.

Jiraiya dusted his hands off as the two made their way over the rubble and away from the former temple.

'No, no luck. But I wasn't really expecting any clues in the first place,' he said as they passed through the weird land back to where they had arrived.

'Don't worry Ero-sennin,' Naruto said, making an attempt at comforting his master. 'We'll get the bastard that did this.'

To Naruto's surprise, Jiraiya kept on walking without acknowledging the blond ninja's comment. _'Hmm, he must not want to talk about it,'_ the boy thought and decided to let it drop as they continued walking in silence. He remembered how he had felt not a few hours earlier when he thought something had happened to the old pervert. Naruto didn't know what Jiraiya's relationship with the old geezer sages was, but if was anything like what his and Ero-sensei's then he figured it wouldn't do any good to try and drag a response out of his master.

It was several minutes before Jiraiya made any reaction.

'Kazeshini Shin is now an S-class missing nin on par with the Akatsuki,' he said seriously. His eyes continued to look forward. 'You wouldn't last very long if you ever came across him.'

Naruto opened his mouth to argue but decided against it. Jiraiya seemed pretty sure about what he was saying, and in his current state Naruto didn't really feel much like arguing with his grieving master. It was very unusual for Jiraiya to act so seriously, and it made Naruto a little uneasy to see him like this.

They continued walking for several minutes before Jiraiya, apparently having made some kind of decision in his head, veered off to the right suddenly.

'Come on kid,' he called behind him, not turning around. 'There something I want to show you.'

For a moment Naruto stood there looking after his sensei in surprise.

'_Hmm, I wonder what he's up to,'_ he thought, sticking his chin out in front of him as his brow furrowed. Before realising he was being left behind.

'Ah! Wait up Ero-sennin!' He called out, running after the trail Jiraiya left through the thick leaves.

Up ahead somewhere in the direction he was heading, Naruto could hear the sound of a waterfall.

XXXXX

After several minutes of running through tunnels, Shin made his way into what was undoubtedly the main area of the bandits' hideout. The tunnels opened up into a vast expanse of rock. Stalagmites littered the area and large pools of water reflected the light from the lit fire onto the roof. All in all it wasn't a bad hideout for any self-respecting bandit, Shin figured.

Looking around the men in front of him Shin noticed there were only four missing-nin left. From what he could see the remains of the missing Iwa ninja consisted of one large, mean looking shinobi branding a rod-like club and wearing heavily padded armour, a messy dark haired man with an odd disc shaped contraction bound to his forearm and the scarred ninja from Shin's welcome party. The man in question was currently lying against a boulder further back in the cave while a small anxious looking ninja was frantically trying to heal his wounds with emergency medical ninjustu.

'_Hmm, he must have been carried back here to be healed,' _Shin mused, _'these poor bastards must be desperate if they're trying to keep this guy in commission.' _From what he could see, it looked like most of the damage the ninja had suffered had been dealt with. Although one of the man's arms still looked pretty messed up. From the assembled ninja in front of him, Shin couldn't see anyone who looked like he merited a 5 million ryo bounty. How disappointing.

Looking up from where he was sitting, the man's eyes started to bulge once again.

'So you've made it here you bastard!'

As the scarred nin spoke he lifted himself to his feet, grudgingly accepting the medic's offered help before shoving the boy aside and striding forward. 'You caught me unaware last time. It's not gonna happen again!' With that he pulled a kunai out from behind his back and held it up in front of him. The two ninja in front of him also adopted ready stances, watching the intruder for any sudden movements.

'Hah! I hope so, from what I've seen so far you guys are little more than thugs with chakra,' Shin replied with a bark of laughter, 'I came here hoping for some quick ryo and perhaps a bit of entertainment...'

The air tensed suddenly as he dropped down in a ready stance of his own.

'…Now I'm bored shitless and in a really bad mood,' he added menacingly, 'so let's just get this over with. Try and keep up this time.'

He darted forward in a burst of speed, aiming to close the gap between himself and the three as quickly as possible. With weaklings like this, he would have little need for tactics or strategy.

The ninja with the club stepped forward to meet his attack, while his smaller companion moved further away. To the man's credit, he seemed to be able to keep up with Shin's speed despite his large size, even if he had no chance of matching it.

The man swung the heavy rod around in a wide horizontal arc as Shin came within range. He couldn't help but smile to himself as the metal raced round to meet his skull. The guy actually looked fairly strong, it would probably be safer if he didn't try and block the blow outright.

He ducked low, letting the club sail overhead. The man stepped back sharply, bringing the club around for an instant reverse swing. It seemed like he was actually quite proficient with the weapon. Despite that, he still wasn't fast enough for Shin to move inside the man's guard. He brought his fist up towards the man's gut. The poor bastard had no chance of reacting in time.

Unfortunately, a well-aimed senbon racing towards his head forced him to abandon his attack at the last minute. He rolled to the side and looked over to where it came from. The shaggy haired shinobi stood a short distance away. His disc-bound arm was raised out in front of him with his other hand resting on the top. He had a victorious smirk on his face.

'_Clever_,'Shin thought as the bigger shinobi began to circle around him warily, _'he's got the meathead taking all the heat while he covers him from a distance and stops me getting a clean shot.'_ The disc seemed to be a projectile weapon of some sort, and the senbon they fired were undoubtedly coated in some kind of poison. The scarred ninja hadn't even joined the fight yet; perhaps these last few wouldn't be so boring after all.

The big guy leapt in for another swing, bringing his club down to crush the straw hat wearing intruder. Shin dodged the clumsy swing and placed two fingers in his right haori sleeve. The ninja's club struck the ground beside him. Immediately Shin felt the vibrations over the rock.

'_Ahh, sneaky.'_

Before he could react the vibrations reached his legs, causing them to buckle underneath him. That was no simple rod.

He barely had time to throw himself backwards as the ninja's follow swing nearly took his head off. He spun in the air, throwing two shruiken out in front of him, knocking away two approaching senbon as the disc wielding ninja sought to capitalise on his moment of vulnerability. He landed on his feet and skidded to a halt. He brought his face up and eyed the Iwa ninja with a grin.

He had underestimated these last few. The larger ninja's club was able to send out vibrations when it struck the ground, temporarily causing whoever was hit with them to be thrown of balance for a second as the tremors caused their muscles to spasm. No wonder the guy wore so much padding. A good hit with that rod could shatter bones with those vibrations. It was a good thing he opted not to block the big guy's first attack.

As well as that, the smaller ninja's disc weapon proved to be accurate and fast acting. He was able to read Shin's movements well despite his speed and react quickly to any opening. Looking over, Shin could see the shinobi's smirk hadn't left his face.

'As you can see intruder-san,' he called over cheerfully, 'we're not such pushovers eh?' He held his arm up so the disc face was facing Shin. 'My senbon thrower reacts to my chakra, letting me fire off senbon with pinpoint accuracy at high speeds. You might be fast, but my toy is faster.'

Once again he adopted a firing stance with his arm held out in front of him as his larger companion edged closer into striking distance. The two worked well together. Now it was time to try a different approach.

Shin rushed forward to meet the bigger ninja, placing three fingers into his right sleeve. As he got close to the shinobi he brought his hand out, now holding four shruiken firmly in his palm. He flung two over the shoulder of the man, sending them racing towards the smaller ninja's smirking face. Shruiken were far more durable than senbon, so any attempt to shoot them away would run the risk of them cutting through the senbon and still reaching their target. Knowing this, the disc-armed shinobi opted to leap to the side and avoid them altogether as his larger companion brought his club down for another swing.

Shin once again side stepped the bigger ninja with ease, but this time threw himself up into the air, avoiding any contact with the ground. As he rose he sent the next two shruiken at the still dodging senbon user to keep him from interfering as tilted his body to the side as he brought his leg round for a wide swing at the missing nin's thick skull as the man's rod collided with the rock below.

It was then that he caught sight of the scarred ninja in the air above him, whose good hand was held out in front of him.

'Lightning release: Electromagnetic Murder!'

Shin shot out with other leg, catching the big ninja on the shoulder and propelling himself backwards. A surge of raging electricity raced over where he had been not a second ago, cutting jagged patterns in the rock. Once again he turned in the air to land on his feet as he skidded to a halt several feet away.

The scarred ninja landed next to his club wielding companion, whose padded armour had kept him safe from any stray lances of electricity.

'_So he's watching the big guy as well,'_ Shin thought, _'these guys actually know what they're doing.'_ Unlike the rest of their fellow missing-nin, these three knew how to co-ordinate as a team. He couldn't just use his enhanced taijutsu to mow them down like the rest. This was turning out to be less boring than he had thought.

Let's see if they can handle something a little more challenging then.

Ducking past more approaching senbon, Shin began another rush towards the two nearby ninja as his hands quickly formed seals in front of him. The big guy readied his club for another swing, but before Shin came within reach he shot both his hands into the sleeves of his haori.

'Wind release: Violent Decimation Wave!'

He took a small amount of satisfaction in seeing all three of their faces widen in shock as he blew out a large gust of wind, throwing his hands out in front him as he did so, scattering several dozen small flattened blades. They were swept into the passing torrent of air as it spun and spread out in front of him. The blades were infused with wind chakra, giving them enhanced sharpness and keeping them from falling to the ground as they spun around in the wave of swirling wind that swept over the rocks.

The wall of swirling blades rushed across the small gap between Shin and the three ninja in front of him. The scarred man once again leapt into the air hoping to get over the swirling rush of razor sharp wind. But the size of the attack was larger than he had anticipated, causing his left leg to receive several deep gashes as he rose through the air. The larger ninja on the other hand realised that he had no hope of dodging the attack and curled into a defensive stance that shielded most of his body with the thick padding of his armour. As the wave passed over him the chakra enhanced blades cut deep, leaving his armour criss-crossed with numerous gashes.

But Shin did not slow down as he continued to run behind his attack. He had only used the technique to distract the other two. The idiots had made such an effort to avoid harm that they had left their disc wielding companion open. The shaggy haired ninja was further away from the attack than his allies, and so had time enough to jump behind a boulder before the area around him was torn to shreds.

Shin followed behind the wall of wind closely, leaping over the boulder as it passed by. He saw the ninja's usual smirk disappear as he landed in front of him and drove his fist towards the man's chest. The man's ninja instincts saved him at the last minute as he was barely able to jump over the punch which shattered the rock he had been leaning against.

Shin immediately launched himself at the ninja again. This guy was next to useless in close quarters.

He swung his leg round towards the missing nin's ribs, causing him to raise his free arm up to block the attack. The man grimaced visibly as the satisfying crack of bone could be heard.

Pressing his advantage, Shin launched a fist towards the man's face. But a lance of electricity from the recovered scarred ninja forced him to abort the attack as he swerved to dodge.

Using the second his companion's technique allowed, the heavy breathing ninja in front of Shin gritted his teeth and used his ruined arm to grip the underside of the disc. Back flipping over another of Shin's kicks he released the disc from his arm and poured a burst of chakra into the device as he sailed through the air. The disc began to spin on the spot as the ninja landed.

'Special technique: Senbon Wildfire Shower!' the ninja yelled as the still airborne disc began to shoot out needles as it spun around at high speed, spraying the surrounding area with senbon.

It was a clever escape tactic, Shin mused. If an attacking enemy got to close, the taijutsu vulnerable ninja could use the technique to make a quick escape and regroup while the attacker was trying to avoid being hit.

Unfortunately for the now weaponless shinobi scrambling over the rocks to his two allies, Shin simply leapt over the spray of senbon heading his way and grabbed the disc with one hand. Ignoring the pain as three senbon shot through his arm and hand, he gripped the contraption firmly as it continued trying to spin and hurled it at the fleeing ninja in front of him.

The disc shot towards the shinobi, who turned around just in time to see the disc strike him between the eyes with a loud crack.

If that wasn't enough, the disc- free from Shin's grip- had begun to spin once again, firing out more senbon at its rapid rate. The scarred ninja and his rod wielding companion dove for cover as the area around them was sprayed with senbon, while their shaggy haired companion simply dropped to the floor with his head resembling a pincushion.

'WOOOO!' Shin howled at the ceiling in elation as the ninja dropped dead. While not exactly challenging, these three had at least provided some brief entertainment. Still from what he could see of their current level, they wouldn't last much longer. The two remaining ninja regrouped next to their dead ally and readied themselves for another attack. Without their main source of cover they would be much more vulnerable.

'Sorry guys,' Shin called over as he absently pulled the senbon out his arm, 'you managed to liven things up for a bit, but I think I've gotten all I'm gonna get out of you.'

Looking over, he could see that their breathing had become haggard. The scarred ninja's leg was bleeding from a number of deep wounds while his arm didn't look much better. Meanwhile the big guy's armour was covered in deep gashes, many of which were freely leaking blood.

As Shin dropped the bloody senbon in his hand to the floor the meathead immediately rushed in for another attack, screaming at the top of his lungs.

'DON'T COUNT US OUT JUST YET!'

Despite his bold statement, the big guy's wounds and clearly taken their toll, and Shin easily dashed right past him and close in on the scarred shinobi behind him.

Shin immediately launch a volley of attacks against the wounded ninja. To his credit the man was able to block or dodge the majority of blows as he retreated away from his grinning attacker.

'I'm. Not. Done. Yet,' the man gasped out between strikes. A vicious backhand caused him to throw himself backwards to dodge. As he struck the ground his hands were already forming seals as his attacker closed in on him. The club wielding ninja hot on his heels

'Lightning release: Sacrificial Sto-' the man managed before Shin, exploiting the second of pause, drove his fist upwards into the man's stomach. The force of the strike carried the impact up behind the man's ribcage, causing him to cough out a spray of blood as his organs ruptured.

Shin heard the approaching rush of metal and spun around in time to see the final attacker had managed to close the gap with an impressive burst of speed and was now right behind him.

Letting out a rush of chakra as the rod raced towards his skull, Shin placed his hand on his stomach and shot out compressed ball of air that burst into the heavily armoured ninja's face and took his head clean off.

The rod in the ninja's grip faltered as the force behind it disappeared and the missing nin wielding it staggered for a moment, before dropping backwards and landing with a dull thud.

The scarred ninja behind Shin had also dropped to the floor and was now lying face down on the rock. He managed a few ragged breaths before going still, leaving the cavern in deathly silence. Shin stood there a moment longer, before stepping over the large ninja's body.

'Wind release: Drilling Air Bullet,' he said casually as he walked over to the now cowering medic nin in the corner of the cave. Not too bad, all in all.

Shin calmly walked up to the terrified medic nin, who was crouched down trying to make himself as small as possible. After dispatching those three, he knew he didn't stand a chance of survival.

He came to a halt in front of the small missing nin and crouched down on one knee so he was level with the wide eyed shinobi. He snapped his fingers to get the boy's attention.

'Hey! Where's your boss?'

The young ninja looked at him in panicked confusion, 'Huh?' he blurted out.

'Your boss,' Shin replied irritably, 'Where. Is. Azuma. Koji.' With each word he snapped his fingers in the boy's face, making him flinch visibly.

Seeing a small chance of survival, the young medic perked up. 'He left! He used the distraction of the others to get away…'

Shin scowled and stood up, turning around to look over the cavern around him. He was afraid of that. He was hoping a ninja with a five million ryo bounty could provide some entertainment where the rest of his group had failed to do so.

'Does that mean you'll let me go?' the cowering ninja continued in a hopeful voice.

Not really paying attention, Shin turned back around to the boy.

'Got you!'

A voice sounded from behind Shin's exposed back. Suddenly his instincts screamed danger as the floor around him began to glow red.

XXXXX

'Molten Geyser Technique!' Koji Azuma called out as he slammed his palm into the ground. The earth around the man who had decimated his group split with heat. Suddenly the ground erupted upwards in a brilliant flash of light as the molten earth shot upwards, enveloping the snared intruder.

It had been a costly gamble, but it had paid off in the end. While the remains of his missing nin kept the enemy occupied he had been able to burrow through the ground beneath. It took thirty hand seals and some complicated chakra work to set up each of the various spots in the earth and he needed a lot of time to set them all up.

He had been able to observe most the fight between the man and his subordinates discreetly between points, giving him a great deal of insight into the jutsu and fighting style of their intruder.

Koji had never been considered a particularly powerful shinobi back in Iwagakure, but he had been feared and respected nonetheless. This was because he was a ninja that used his mind when in battle. He had been considered a tactical genius back in his village, and could easily outsmart his opponents after observing how they fought. His molten geyser technique relied heavily on that, as Koji would base the positioning of each of point in the earth tactically based on his observations on the enemy's style.

The ragged cloaked intruder with his straw hat and murderous grin was clearly a dangerous man. Koji had seen that the man had been holding back for most of the fight against his three best subordinates, testing their prowess with increasingly difficult attacks. Though his nin had performed admirably, once the stranger had begun to employ ninjustu the fight had ended quickly.

Still, the man wasn't exactly smart. He had allowed himself to get so caught up in the battle that he had ignored all else. That stupidity had allowed him to be easily caught in Koji's trap and be turned into a burnt crisp.

Koji pulled himself up out of the ground with a sigh as the glowing earth rained back down to the floor. That must have been a killing blast. What a waste of talent.

Suddenly he caught something odd in the blasted earth. Narrowing his eyes he saw the molten rock flowing around what appeared to be a perfect sphere of solid earth, partially glassed by the intense heat.

The rock crumbled away from the top to bottom, revealing the crouched figure of their attacker. Koji cursed under his breath. He was still alive. That must have been a serious shield if it could withstand the blast from his technique. The man looked up from under his sakkat, causing Koji's heart to freeze when he saw his face.

The bastard was grinning.

XXXXX

As the encasing earth around Shin fell away he caught sight of the shinobi who had activated the trap.

'_I can't believe I fell for that…' _he thought grudgingly. The heat from the man's technique still blazed around him, making the air shimmer. He had barely been able to activate his Shielding Prison Technique before he was burned alive.

He looked over at the man who undoubtedly was Koji Azuma. The ninja was smart; he had avoided combat until the last possible moment to give himself the tactical advantage over his opponent. Shin couldn't hide his excitement. His technique was powerful, but more importantly it was fast. If the man had set up the rest of the battlefield with those trap techniques then he had complete control of the battle. This ninja was a thinker, and if the five million ryo bounty on his head was any indication, this fight might not be so boring.

The slick haired ninja's eyes narrowed as he looked over. 'Not bad. Not many can survive my Molten Geyser Technique,' he called, 'you're pretty skilled.'

Shin stood up with a grunt and began to make his way over to where the man was standing.

'It was a close call. That's some technique you have there,' Shin admitted as he casually closed the distance between them.

It was Koji's turn to grin, 'I've set up spots all around here just like that one. I can activate them by sending a simple pulse of chakra to each one.' He dropped into a ready stance as Shin came closer. 'I have already won this.'

As if in confirmation, the earth around Shin began to heat up as the ninja formed a tiger seal. Shin's senses had managed to pick up the faint rise in temperature, so as the earth split and burst in flames he was just able to make it clear of the blast zone in time.

Rolling along the floor he threw two fingers into his left sleeve as Koji sent a kunai to where he had landed. Bringing them out he shot his arm out, hurling two kunai of his own. The first one deflected Koji's kunai away while the other raced right towards the Iwa nin, who dodged to the side to avoid the blade.

Unfortunately, the nin's dodge had placed him directly between the two missiles Shin had thrown. Koji's eyes widened in shock as the fine wire connecting the two kunai caught him square in the chest and pulled him to the ground.

Grunting in frustration the shinobi cut himself free with another kunai in an instant

_Too slow._

The missing nin boss leapt to his feet. He was barely able to look up in time to see Shin come down with a third kunai in his hand, driving the blade straight into the shinobi's skull.

Koji's eyes rolled back in his head. He continued standing for a moment. That was a disappointment.

Suddenly the ninja's skin faded into a dull shade of brown as his features began to melt away.

_An earth clone!_

Shin leapt backwards as the crumbling figure of Koji exploded with a burst of flames. An exploding earth bunshin? Not bad.

Spinning himself in the air to land on one hand and propel himself backwards to avoid another kunai, Shin launched a kunai of his own to deflect the follow up missile flying towards his chest. As he landed he looked over to where it had come from, seeing Koji standing further away. His hands were gripped in another seal.

Shin leapt to the side with a sharp grunt as the rock erupted underneath him. This time he wasn't fast enough to make it completely clear of the blast area as the air burned red around him.

He landed on the rock with a slight slump. He could hear the sizzle of burning cloth. The skin on the right side of his face screamed with pain. His sakkat was smouldering. That had been too close.

His assumption had been correct. Koji's placement of the powerful trap jutsu gave him control over how Shin moved. Also, the man wasn't willing to let himself be caught in close quarters easily. This guy knew what he was doing.

Shin began to feel his heart quicken.

The two continued to fight their way back and forth across the cavern. Although Shin was fast, he couldn't get close to the grinning Iwa nin without the floor exploding underneath him. As it was, it was all he could do to stay a step ahead of the exploding traps. Wow his face hurt.

'Summoning seals woven into the sleeves of your haori,' the Iwa ninja observed. 'Genius.'

Shin came to a stop. Ignoring the pain as he looked over at where Koji stood watching him.

'You think so? It's not often I get complimented for these,' he replied honestly as he held up his left arm, squinting down the sleeve.

'Not many people know more than the most basic sealing jutsu. And fabric that can hold seals is pretty rare,' the missing nin continued, nodding his head in thought. 'It must have cost a fortune.'

'That's the benefit of a job like this.'

'Ah yes. Bounty hunting. I suppose to someone with enough skill a lot of money could be made. I might look into that after we're done. Your cloak is on fire by the way.'

Shin looked down at his right arm. The ragged cloth of his cloak had caught fire in the blast and was spreading up the worn material. Shin grunted to himself in annoyance, he didn't really need the thing at this point anyway. The whole reason he wore the thing was to detract attention from himself as he hunted his bounties. Shin himself wasn't very attention grabbing, but his expensive choice in clothes were.

Reaching up, he grabbed the cloak by the neck and flung it forward, revealing the pristine silk haori beneath it. He didn't bother removing the still smouldering straw hat.

For the briefest of moments, the line of sight between the two men was broken. In a blur Shin had his fingers in his right sleeve. He had placed the seals along the inside of his haori in a very specific order. One finger deep on his right side meant shruiken.

Bringing his hand out he sent the shruiken through the burning cloak straight towards the Iwa shinobi.

Immediately Shin could feel that something was wrong.

His arm felt much heavier than it should have done, and his throw had been wildly off target. Koji leant to the side slightly as the shruiken sailed passed his shoulder. He was smiling again.

'Ah. That took much longer than I thought it would.'

Shin gripped his arm as a dull burning sensation crept across it. Poison. Sneaky bastards. Whatever it was it was spreading fast, he could barely lift his arm…

'Yes those senbon that Hayase had been throwing around. Did you really think they weren't laced with something?' Koji asked. His voice was filled with triumph. 'I can't believe you were actually stupid enough to let them hit you so easily.'

XXXXX

Koji watched as his opponent tried to keep his balance as the poison spread through his system. His subordinate's poison was supposed to be fast acting, but for whatever reason the man had lasted quite a while before feeling it's effects. Still, it didn't matter anymore, he knew once the cloaked idiot had grabbed the senbon launching disc that his fight was as good as won.

He looked over at the man and felt a stab of annoyance. The son of a bitch was grinning again, even though he could barely stand.

'You know at first I was planning on blowing you up,' he said as he began to walk over to the dying intruder. The man tried to right himself but began to stumble. 'But I think I'll just cut your throat instead. After all, it would be a shame to waste such a fine piece of clothing.' Koji knew that his chakra wouldn't work on the seals. They only responded to one person's chakra, but he could at least reverse engineer some seals of his own. It really wasn't a bad idea. Where had an idiot like that come up with that?

He pulled out a kunai and dashed over to where the man was standing, lunging out at the bastard's still grinning face. To his surprise, his opponent still had some fight left in him, and leant back to dodge the blow.

'_Dammit, why is that poison taking so long to take effect?'_ Koji cursed to himself. Before he could execute a follow up attack, the red and gold clad figure had planted a foot on his chest.

He was shoved back several feet despite the weakness of the kick as the man launched himself away. The intruder flipped in the air and skidded to a halt on the earth. As soon as he had come to a stop the man bent his head and dropped into a cross legged sitting position with his head bowed under his glowing sakkat.

He didn't move again.

Koji felt his growing anger fade as he realised the strange intruder's final attack was simply an attempt to salvage some shred of dignity before he died. He must have known that he only had a few seconds of movement left in his muscles, and had opted to sit himself down as a last act of pride.

Hayase's poison had finally taken full effect, leaving the fool in complete paralysis.

Koji gripped his kunai firmly in his hand. It was time to end this.

He dashed forward to the sitting figure. It was almost a shame. Whoever their intruder was he had clearly been someone of great skill. Koji knew that most of the nin who had joined in his defection of Iwagakure could serve as little more than cannon fodder. Nevertheless the stranger had dealt with them all with ease. He was sure that in a straight up fight he would have little chance of winning.

Koji smirked as he closed in on the sitting figure. It was lucky for him that he never opted to play fair.

He drove his kunai straight towards the man's heart. It was over.

There was a blur of motion that Koji's eyes could not pick up and a loud shattering sound. Looking down at his hand, Koji saw that his kunai was gone.

His hand was held firmly in the stranger's fist.

Koji's heart stopped as he stood in stunned silence. Every nerve in his body screamed for him to move. To do something. But his mind refused to cooperate. This was impossible. He had seen the senbon strike flesh. He had seen the poison take hold of the man's body. The bastard shouldn't be able to move.

How was this happening?

'You should now Koji…' came the stranger's soft voice from beneath the straw hat, '…there is a world of difference between being stupid, and knowing what's beneath you.'

Koji screamed out as his hand exploded in pain. The figure had closed his fist, crushing Koji's hand in a shower of blood.

Koji dropped to his knees, the pain and shock robbing his legs of strength. This was all wrong. This was impossible.

Looking up as his body went numb with shock Koji saw the smouldering hat rise as the man looked up; their faces were no more than a foot apart. His heart froze as their eyes met.

The stranger's eyes were no longer their usual brown. Instead they had changed to a bright yellow, with horizontal bars for pupils. Around them a strange orange hue had appeared.

'It's over Koji,' the man said casually as a smile spread across his face.

There was another blur of movement and Koji Azuma knew no more.

Author's notes:

Well that was a hassle to write. That's my first time trying to do fight scenes, hope it works out ok. Actually quite fun once you get into it.

From here on I'm going to be working Shin into the rest of the Naruto storyline. I've actually got some awesome stuff planned (at least I think so) so watch this space. Also, there's one more OC that I've yet to introduce, but that should be in the next few chapters.

Anyhoo, any reviews would be great. It'd be good to know how I'm doing since it's hard to tell, so let me know what you think.


	3. Chapter 3 A Chance Meeting

High up in the mountains of Myoboku, the sun beat down heavily on the landscape. In the warm, humid air birds and animals ran through the think overgrowth of the massive plants. Five days after the death of the Toad Sages, it seemed like life was finally returning to the secluded mountain range.

Unfortunately, Naruto was in no position to enjoy any of this as he sat crossed legged at the base of an enormous waterfall. His brow was furrowed in concentration; already a thick sheen of sweat covered his features. In the clearing around him, ten identical shadow clones were currently mirroring his actions, sitting cross legged in a wide circle surrounding his white haired sensei, who was accompanied by two shadow clones of his own.

_Concentrate on the natural energy; let it mix in with your own chakra at an even rate._

Naruto's breathing was steady. Standing over him Jiraiya's face was lined with concern.

_Don't move._

The faint sound of movement could be heard to the side, easily missed under the roar of the waterfall. Skin stretching, turning slowly to stone. One of his clones was losing control.

Jiraiya did not turn his head, instead one of his clones stepped forward to the Naruto clone that was beginning to swell and slowly gain toad-like features. The Jiraiya-clone brought an old stick round in a wide swing connecting with the temple of the Naruto-clone, seeping away the nature chakra and causing the clone to poof out of existence in a cloud of smoke.

_Don't move…_

The commotion caused Naruto to shift unconsciously. Before he could finish the motion, a sharp pain sprang up from his head.

"Ah! Ero-Sennin, what was that for!" Naruto cried, stopping his meditating to open his eyes and rub his head. He looked angrily up at his mentor who had hit him with a stick of his own.

"You moved," Jiraiya said evenly,"If you move even a little, you can't balance out the chakra in your body."

"I know, I know. Doesn't mean you need to hit me you bastard!" His eyes met the Toad Sage's, his angry faced turned up at the uncharacteristically harsh face of the old man.

"Naruto, if you can't keep still, all of this is pointless. You need to master absorbing nature energy. I've taken a risk allowing you to use this many clones to train with, but you need to be able to do this." Jiraiya's face hardened as he looked down at the young Jinchuriki. "And you need to be able to do it soon."

Naruto made a subtle shift in his chakra flow, causing all the Naruto clones around the pair to disappear. If nothing else, his chakra control had skyrocketed since he'd been here, and there was no need for Naruto to keep his clones out while Jiraiya seemed to be heading into lecture-mode.

"I know Ero-Sennin, I get it. With Akatsuki after me, along with this new guy Shin I need to be able to go all Sage like you. I just don't get why you're rushing me so much." His eyes glanced over the toad statues around them both. Would-be Sage's who had failed to control nature chakra. "You said it yourself, training with this many clones is dangerous, and I haven't been back to Konoha in almost a week."

That seemed to get Jiraiya's face to soften somewhat. He rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully, a tic he shared with his young student whether either of them was conscious of it or not. "Look Naruto, things are going to get really ugly really soon. I'm keeping in constant communication with Tsunade, so we'll know if something happens. But Akatsuki are on the move, and with Kazeshini thrown in the mix somehow I have no idea how to predict what's gonna happen next." His eyes settled on Naruto with an even gaze, "You need to be ready for what's coming."

A breeze swept over the clearing, carrying another wave of warm air over the two. Jiraiya paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. Naruto took the time to stretch his legs as he'd been sitting in that position for three hours and his muscles were killing him.

"Naruto," Jiraiya said suddenly, having come to some kind of decision, "Get your bag, we're moving to another location."

"What? Why?"

"I know a place where I can teach to keep still." Jiraiya waited while Naruto strapped his bag to his back and starting turning to walk back through the jungle. "It's where Fukasaku taught me."

The two walked the rest of the way in silence.

XXXXX

'_Almost there,'_ Shin thought irritably as he walked along the dirt path, _'Ugh, why does Fire Country have to be so damn hot this time of year?'_

He'd managed to save most of his travelling cloak from being burnt to cinders, which was somewhat lucky. The place we was heading to favoured a certain level of discretion, and although his torn and singed cloak - along with his partially blackened hat - gave him the appearance of an old beggar, it afforded him the chance to move inconspicuously through the land he'd once called home.

His sandals thudded gently against the dirt as he walked. His wounds had more or less healed in the five days it had taken to get here. He should probably have moved faster, but he figured it made little difference by now anyway.

By now the damage was already done.

He slowed to a stop as he reached his destination. An old building in the forest, built at the side of the road. It looked like it had been abandoned for some years, but that was kind of the point.

Shin took a lazy look around. There didn't seem to be anybody nearby, with one exception - a dark cloaked man sitting on the steps outside the building. The man seemed to be paying him little attention as he mumbled angrily to himself for some unknown reason, most likely due to Shin's shabby appearance. The man clearly knew how to handle himself - Shin could easily spot the stance and posture of a killer, but it didn't concern him much. With a profession like this, it was common for people in their line of work to cross paths occasionally, even if Shin couldn't recognise him.

He shuffled forwards and up the stone steps, passing the man on his way. Their eyes didn't meet, nor did they give each other any indication they knew that the other was there.

"Not sure you want to go in there." The man's voice came from behind him, his tone was casual. "That place absolutely reeks of piss. You need to be pretty desperate if you want to use those toilets."

Shin stopped in his tracks. He turned his head slightly, so as to give himself a glimpse of the man out of the corner of his eye, his head lowered under his straw hat. The oddly (-_had he seen that cloak before?_) dressed man was now leaning back on the steps, and had turned around to face him. His eyes took a quick overview of Shin; his cocky face spreading into a sneer.

"Although, I guess from looking at you, you probably aren't all that bothered about taking a leak in a shithole like this."

They regarded each other in silence for a moment. _'You've got work to do,'_ Shin reminded himself, _'get your money first before getting into any trouble.'_

Shin broke of his gaze and turned back to walk into the shadows of the building entrance.

"Not here for the toilets," he said loud enough for the man behind him to hear as he walked into the darkness.

XXXXX

Sakura leaned back against the bench she was sitting on, happy to be in the shade and out of the sun for a second. The sweltering sun, coupled with the bustling crowds of Konoha made the heat nearly unbearable.

Why she agreed to accompany Ino out for shopping was currently a mystery to her.

"Phew!" Ino cried out as she sat down on the bench beside her, "What a day. I'm exhausted!"

"This was all your idea," Sakura grumbled as she tried to cool of, although she was happy that she and Ino were getting along so well these days, the ache in her feet meant that she was allowed to be annoyed at her at the moment.

"Hey, no need to sound so grumpy about it," the blond kunoichi said in the indignant tone she often took when she felt insulted, "I was just trying to take your mind of everything that's happened."

They both sat there and watched the shoppers and villagers passing by. Every now and again, the telltale flak jacket of a ninja could be seen in the crowd. "I suppose your right," Sakura sighed, "Sorry Ino; I've just been stressed lately."

"Don't sweat it," came the chirpy reply of her friend, "A lot's been happening lately, what with Sasuke still gone, then Naruto went off to train in some mountain after those toads got ganked." As Sakura looked over, she could see Ino's face fall slightly, "And now with the Fire Temple being attacked, Shikamaru and Asuma-sensei are off hunting down a possible Akatsuki attack." She looked up and saw Sakura eyeing her carefully.

"They'll be fine Ino. You know better than anyone they can take care of themselves," Sakura said softly.

Ino shook her head, "I know, I know I keep telling myself that. It's just-" she looked out over the heads of the crowd, her pretty face lined with worry, "I dunno… I've got a bad feeling about all this."

XXXXX

Well, rude as he was, the guy up front had a point. This place smelled fucking _awful_.

Shin tried to breathe as little as possible as he made his way through the toilets, stepping carefully around suspicious looking puddles. Why hide a collection site in such a shithole? Surely they could try for a little class now and then.

He reached the far wall and pressed a hidden panel, causing the wall to fall away to reveal a dark room beyond. It somewhat resembled a morgue.

Shin stepped through the entrance, glad that the closing door behind him meant the air wasn't so foul in here. He looked up and saw two men talking in hushed tones on the far side of the room. He recognised the bald head of his collector, weasely little shit that he was. He seemed to be finishing up with another bounty collection, discreetly handing a large sum of money to… ah _fuck._

"Kazeshini? That you?" The collector looked up from his conversation. "I'll be right with you in a second." He turned back to finish his conversation, only to find that the tall man he had been conversing with was now faced towards the new arrival.

"Kazeshini Shin," said in the man in a low menacing voice, "It's been a while… I had hoped you were dead."

Shin tensed momentarily under his cloak, before stepping forward and speaking.

'_Great, this is exactly what I need; to deal with this prick.'_

"Hello Kakuzu," he said, trying to keep a civil tone, "I thought I recognised that cloak outside. Red clouds. So it seems you've got yourself a new boyfriend."

The dark eyes of the Akatsuki member narrowed dangerously. "I was given a new partner after my last one… had an incident."

Shin continued to walk towards the collector, who was now trying to subtly move away from the hooded bounty hunter he had been talking to, clearly trying and keep the two acquaintances from getting too close to each other. Too many collection sites had been destroyed by arguments that started just like this, this was why they tried to keep the various hunters in the business as isolated from each other's affairs as possible.

"Ah yeah, I do recall you having some trouble controlling your tantrums," Shin said, "So what'd the last one do?"

"If I'm being honest," Kakuzu replied in a bored tone, "it's hard to remember." The level of killing intent in the room was steadily rising despite the even tones of the two ninja. "But I seem to recall him mouthing off. You'll remember there are few things I hate more than a fool who doesn't know their place - Yaken."

Shin halted on the spot where he had been walking. His eyes locked onto the immortal's. If the room had been soaked in killing intent before, now it was drowning in it. The collector began to find it quite difficult to breathe, as it felt like a heavy weight was being rolled over him, crushing him. The two men stood less than two meters apart. If he didn't do something, it was likely he'd be dead in the next few minutes.

"Do you…" he gasped, struggling to get the words out, "do you…have a drop-off Shin?"

At first he wandered if he had been able to speak the words at all, the two continued to stare each other down, before Shin turned to face him and the killing intent in the room seemed to lift a little. Both men were still oozing with malicious chakra, but at least it was bearable now.

"As always man," Shin said easily, walking over to a table where he reached into the inside of his haori and pulled out a large sealing scroll. He had turned his back on the collector, but still kept the motionless Kakuzu in his eye line. He rolled the scroll out along the table, revealing a number of individual seals that stood out from each other. There seemed to be over twenty separate ones, which meant…

"Been busy have we?" He ventured, trying to ease some of the tension in the room.

Shin smiled to himself beneath his sakkat as he continued unravelling the scroll. "You could say that. Most of these bodies are members of that rogue Iwa group that showed up a couple of months ago," he said gesturing to several of the seals, "One of them is the leader, Azuma Koji," he pointed at the last seal of the scroll.

"And this," he continued, pulling a smaller scroll out of his haori, "is something I think you'll be very interested in." He waved the scroll in front of him playfully before tossing onto the table with the other one. He turned back to Kakuzu, who hadn't said a word in minutes.

"Hope you don't mind zombie boy, but I was hoping to talk to this man in private," he said casually, waving his wand towards the door.

The collector unconsciously held his breathe.

_Oh god, please don't let me die here._

Kakuzu regarded Shin for a moment before reaching over and grabbing his briefcase for where he had left it. "I'm done here anyway; I've wasted enough time as it is." He gave the briefest nod to the collector before walking past Shin without a second glance and headed towards to door. He either didn't care that he was exposing his back the man, or he just didn't consider him a real threat.

Just as he pushed away the door panel, Shin called out, "Being seeing you Kakuzu." The other man stopped in the doorway. "Sometime real soon yeah?"

The cloaked man turned back towards Shin. Though it was hard to tell from his covered face it appeared as though he found something privately amusing as he looked at the man in front of him.

"I know where to find you," he said, and turned back out the door and was gone.

XXXXX

It had been several minutes since Kakuzu had left, and after getting down to his usual business of working out payment and sorting out the bodies, the collector had managed to calm down a little. He was a little disgruntled at the shape some of the bodies were in, but that was pretty much usual for Shin's deliveries. Some of them looked like they'd been ripped apart by a wild animal, but he supposed Shin hadn't earned his nickname for nothing; not that he had any intention of sharing that sentiment. Seeing as how the volatile bounty hunter had reacted to Kakuzu's use of the name, he figured he wouldn't live very long if he did decide to.

"So now that they're sorted," he said, packing the bodies away, "What is it about the second batch that you wanted to talk in private about?"

Shin had been sitting back on one of the tables with his legs hanging in the air. He leaned forward so his hands were on the sides. "We'll they're not exactly normal bodies, but I'm pretty sure they'll net us both a fortune." His face split into a wide smile that made the collector a little uneasy.

Still it was hard for the man to keep his composure. If he understood what shin was getting at, then this was what collectors in the business referred to a 'big catch'. If a bounty hunter is able to bring in the body of an S-Rank ninja, or at least one that has a valuable trait, such as a Sharingan, then both the hunter and the collector stood to make a great deal of money from interested parties. This day might not have been so shit after all.

All of a sudden a loud crash was heard outside, and the whole building shook with the force of some unknown impact. Several voices could be heard yelling to each other outside, from what their numbers suggested, it sounded like a strike team.

The collector had worked it out, and from the sudden look of excitement that lit up in Shin's eyes he had worked it out to.

Konoha had found them.

_Or maybe this is gonna be a shit day after all._


	4. Chapter 4 Troublesome Developments

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes as the dust whipped around where he had landed. He was panting heavily, not only from the exertion it took to maintain his Shadow Imitation Technique but also from the effort it took to avoid the fist that had almost taken his head clean off.

Shikamaru wasn't an athletic guy, and the surprise attack from the second Akatsuki member had very nearly gotten him.

_Troublesome._

He looked over to see Asuma turn and face the new threat, who now stood impassively where Shikamaru had been moments before, watching the Konoha strike team. Izumo and Kotestu had also leapt away from the figure they had impaled.

The trap had gone perfectly. Shikamaru had caught the silver haired man in his Shadow Imitation Technique and the other two had run him through on either side. It should have been a deathblow, but the scythe carrying man had only complained about the pain. He had two swords sticking through his goddamn chest! Nobody was that tough, he should have been dead.

Why couldn't things ever just run smoothly?

Free from the Shikamaru's possession, the one with the scythe and monk-like necklace nonchalantly pulled the blades out of his chest with an irritated expression.

"Goddamnit Kakuzu! Where the hell were you?"

Shikamaru felt his heart stop as the man acted as if he hadn't just been stabbed through the lungs and heart. From the shocked looks of his teammates they were thinking the same thing he was.

This was impossible.

They were in _a lot_ of trouble.

"You hear me asshole?" the man continued, shouting over to his teammate as if they weren't in the middle of a combat zone, "If you hadn't taken so long in that shithole this never would've happened and I wouldn't be standing here _with two fucking holes in my _-"

"Hidan." The other one (Kakuzu he had been called) said, cutting off his partner. His eyes were narrowed as he studied the Konoha ninja menacingly. "Stop talking."

If not for the rising panic in his chest, Shikamaru would have laughed at the absurdity of the situation. Slowly he and the rest of his team were circling around towards each other; the two Akatsuki members did nothing to stop them.

"What did you just say fuckhead?" Hidan shot back angrily, "We came all the way out here 'cos _you_ wanted to make some extra money…"

The team had now gotten into formation. Shikamaru kneeling in the middle.

"…and you get me stabbed by these assholes…" He gestured angrily to the team now standing in defensive stances before he was cut off again.

"You talk too much," Kakuzu's voice was low and calm, "and right now I'm in a really bad mood."

Shikamaru heard the threat evident in the masked man's tone, and the older Konoha ninja around him tensed. The wind around them picked up, the cloaks of the two missing nin flapping in the breeze as Asuma turned to look at him, his face taking on a serious look that Shikamaru had only seen a handful of times.

As a self confessed lazy bum, Shikamaru relied on using his brilliant mind to work out the best possible strategy to any situation. That was how he had made chunin. That was how he had survived so long. He knew the look on Asuma's face; he was asking him what their next move was.

For all his brilliance Shikamaru kept coming back to the same option. Run.

If they were only fighting the Hidan character they might have a chance of getting out of this alive. But Kakuzu was the one who really frightened Shikamaru. The man stood perfectly still, his eyes fixed on the enemy in front of him as he ignored his partner's grumbling. This man was a killer. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he was eyeing a 4 man team with a murderous expression that told Shikamaru that he was barely registered as a threat. He was the one in charge of the two man team, and earning that place in favour of a man who survived _two holes through his chest_ made him very dangerous indeed. They needed to get out of here, and fast.

He looked up at his sensei, the years of experience they had working together allowing him to communicate just how bad their situation was with a look. Asuma's eyebrows raised a fraction in surprise but he trusted his subordinate's judgement. He nodded and turned back to the two Akatsuki.

_Ok, so now how do we get out of this in one piece?_

Logic suggested that the best course of action would be to have one member of the team try and buy the rest time to flee. Just like in shogi, sometimes sacrifices had to be made to ensure victory.

But they weren't that desperate yet. Things didn't look great, granted. They had all read the reports, and knew that if a man was wearing one of those cloaks they had to extremely dangerous. And these two had apparently laid waste to the heavily defended fire temple north of here. But they had still yet to see any offensive action from either Akatsuki member.

To the side, the foul mouthed Hidan continued to berate his partner.

"Oh, well I'm _so_ sorry you're in a bad mood," he sneered, "but these cocksuckers just attacked me. Now if none of them are Jinchuriki then that means I can appease Lord Jashin with some wholesale slaughter." He turned to regard them wickedly, "So their heads are mine."

"I won't tell you again. Shut up. I'm in no mood to sit and watch you get chopped up. I'm going to end this quickly."

The masked man stepped forward, not taking his eyes of the team in front of him. Shikamaru saw Asuma dig his foot into the dirt, ready to spring.

"Eat a dick Kakuzu. I called dibs."

Kakuzu broke off his gaze to look over at his partner. Shikamaru could feel the killing intent roll off him like a tidal wave, it was suffocating.

"After I'm done with them. I'm going to kill you too."

"Yeah, yeah, it's all been said before." Hidan said, waving Kakuzu's comment off like it was nothing.

_Keep calm. Wait for an opening._

For a two man team, the Akatsuki members didn't seem to get along so well. Shikamaru only hoped that the two men would manage to turn on each other before facing his team. They both seemed to have foul tempers, but realistically it wasn't likely to happen. As strange as they appeared, these men were Akatsuki, the top of the missing nin world. They were pros, and pros don't attack their teammates when the enemy is standing right in front of them.

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes at his teammate for a moment who returned his stare defiantly. Shikamaru didn't want to hazard a guess what was going through his head, but it wasn't likely to be sunshine and rainbows. The masked ninja broke off his gaze and turned to Shikamaru and his team.

Without saying anything, he raised his hands into a lightning release seal. This was it. Shikamaru shifted his weight to the front of his feet, ready to move.

"Lightning release: Fal -"

"SURPRISE FUCKFACE!"

The roof Kakuzu had been standing on suddenly erupted in a pillar of fire, hurling debris from the building in every direction. The Konoha ninja jumped back on reflex. Shikamaru raised his arm to shield his eyes from the blast wave of intense heat. Even from this distance he could feel his skin blistering. What just happened?

The flames died down and Shikamaru lowered his arm to see what was going on. The building was now gutted, the corner of it a burned out wreck. Through the smoke he could see Hidan shifting a pile of rubble off himself, his face stuck in an expression of clumsy bewilderment. Someone else had attacked Kakuzu; this could was an ideal chance to escape.

He raised his hand in a gesture. And the other Konoha ninja leapt to the tree's surrounding the ruined building. As much as they wanted to escape they all held their position in the tree line. A third party seemed to have attacked an Akatsuki member, and that kind of intel could not be passed up. Crouching on one of the thick branches beside his sensei Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. Why could things never be simple?

Though he couldn't see him through the thick smoke of the wreckage, he could hear Kakuzu's voice.

"Waiting until I was attacking another enemy before trying to blow me up. Even for you, that's low."

Another voice sounded out in a cocky tone that Shikamaru unconsciously compared to his friend Kiba's. "Any chance to take you down to one and I'm taking it Kakuzu. It's your last life that I'll take my time with."

Shikamaru felt his heart skip a beat. Last life, what did the stranger mean by that? That sounded like just the vital intel they were needing.

There was a brief pause before he heard the voice again, this time sounding a little sheepish. "Don't suppose I got you then did I?"

Kakuzu's tone was even, "Afraid not."

Down on the ground, Hidan had managed to drag himself up to his feet. "Wait…" he called up to the roof "that guy from before? Shit Kakuzu, who don't you have beef with?"

Asuma knelt down beside Shikamaru. "Reinforcements shouldn't be too far away by now," he said in a low murmur. "We can fall back and regroup with them. Or, with this new distraction we can try and wait it out here. What do you think?"

Ignoring the brief surge of pride in the faith his sensei's was placing on him, Shikamaru puzzled it over. They still had no idea who this newcomer was, or even if he was aggressive to Konoha forces. On the other hand, he has placing himself into the middle of a battle between a Konoha strike force and two Akatsuki. If he knew Kakuzu he must realise the danger the man posed. This guy was either ridiculously confident, or had a serious axe to grind. Or both. Or he didn't care.

_Troublesome._

"For now we hold," he replied quietly. "If they keep focused on each other we should be able to avoid danger." Plus if a fight broke out he would be able to get a better idea of the Akatsuki's abilities, especially that Hidan's. The man's ability to survive two blades through the chest really unnerved Shikamaru. He only hoped the two sides would focus on each other and leave the Konoha nin be.

The smoke had begun to clear slightly, allowing Shikamaru a glance at the new attacker. He was not at all what Shikamaru had expected, looking more like a wealthy merchant crossed with a hermit than a serious fighter. The straw hat on his head had been burned quite badly, seemingly before the impromptu explosion, giving the man a ragged, almost lopsided appearance.

"So who the fuck is this guy?" Hidan called to his partner. Rolling his shoulders like he was warming up for exercise.

_Good question, silver haired loudmouth._

"He's like you Hidan," Kakuzu replied, his eyes not leaving the man's.

"Eh?"

"He's an idiot who rushes headlong into fights without thinking."

"Hey!"

"Honestly Shin, I'm amazed you've lasted this long collecting bounties without dying."

Shikamaru's blood ran cold. It couldn't be. _Nobody's _luck was that bad.

The man shrugged, "I've picked up a few tricks in my time," he said by way of explanation. "Care to see them?"

Shin. Shin Kazeshini. The one they had all been briefed about. Goddamn it.

He turned to face Asuma, seeing his feelings mirrored on the older man's face.

"We won't be able to sit on the sidelines on this one," he said.

Asuma nodded in agreement, "We fall back."

As one the Konoha strike force melted away into the forest. If any of the 3 ninja had an issue with their departure, they were too focused on each other to do anything about it.

Darting from tree to tree, Shikamaru frowned, deep in thought. Flashes of light lit the sky. Behind him, the rumble of explosions echoed through the trees.


End file.
